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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

E-pubbing is so fast and easy, anyone can do it. And millions do. More e-books than print books are being made. There’s no longer that middle gate authors had to get past (usually an agent or an editor) who blocked/opened the path from writer to reader. The process has been made relatively easy for those wanting to publish their own books.

But easy, fast, and money usually draw in people other than those wanting to get their books out to the public. It also draws in scam artists.

One of the most prolific self-publishers on the site is Manuel Ortiz Braschi. When I last checked he had edited, authored or co-authored no fewer than 3,255 ebooks. Mr Braschi is clearly a man of Herculean energy and wide learning, who ranges effortlessly from How to Become a Lethal Weapon in Two Weeks (£1.40) to Herbs 101: How to Plant, Grow & Cook with Natural Herbs (£0.70) while taking in Potty Training! The Ultimate Potty Training Guide! (£0.69).

How could he be an expert in all of those areas? He can’t. According to the article, Braschi is one of many spammers who

"scrape" content from websites or, in some cases, actually lift entire texts, and republish them as ebooks. And, in a neat twist, each of these ersatz "books" can be marketed under several different titles as coming from different authors.

One “entrepreneur” is marketing a video course on how to post 10 to 20 new Kindle books every day by handing “the video course to your spouse, your assistant, your brother... heck – even hand it to your 10-year-old kid!”

The article claims Kindle self-publishing is “metamorphosing into a new kind of lucrative spam.” It even answers its own question as to why Kindle would allow this to happen:

Could the fact that it takes a 30% slice of every transaction have anything to do with it?

My question is: Can anything be done to stop this kind of blatant plagiarism? This is going to keep happening. It’s too easy for spammers to do and too lucrative for them to stop.

29 comments:

As with all this new technology, I think we must simply wait until it balances out. How that will happen is anyone's guess. I imagine that the thieving will stop once the thieves no longer can make it lucrative and that will happen when the marketplace is saturated with such cobbled together books. It is frustrating but one way to look at it - if you are one of the people who is providing content to scammers without being paid - is to continue to post and offer it all up. This is a difficult mind-set to get into but it can be rewarding. I'm interested to hear what others might say and I'm grateful as always that you post such interesting questions.

This is a side of self-publushing I didn't think about. The biggest complaint I hear is that "anyone can publish" and that means people who can't even write, thereby giving self-publishing a bad name. This is a very dark, seedy side of self-pubbing.

I have only one question: who (if anyone) is buying these spambooks? It is our hope that the cream of the talented independent authors will rise to the top - people will buy good stories instead of dreck.

Scammers exist everywhere. This is a new and easy role for them, so I'm not surprised. It's a horrible thing. At some point I hope there will be controls in place to stop it, but I fear it's a long time coming.

Print books have been "bootlegged" in the past, including mine in foreign countries, and I was told that it would cost more to hire a lawyer to sue them than it was worth. This new ebook plagiarism is unconsciounable but as long as people buy the "books" it's going to continue.

There are some writer's organizations such as Sisters in Crime that are attempting to get Amazon to be a better gatekeeper when it comes to content and this kind of abuse. Perhaps in time, this will change. I hope so. It casts such a bad light on those who are legitimately publishing e-books.

My best guess is that when Kindle and Amazon get enough complaints they'll put something in place to curb this sort of thing.In the mean time it's probably best to buy what you know. Writers will likely have to copyright to protect their efforts.

I have put out an ebook but I didn't charge for it. I used it as a gift for my readers. I didn't use any plagiarism. Wouldn't anyone be subject to the laws of ethical writing whether it be worth anything or not. Is it a question of having the money to do something about someone plagiarizing you?

It happens more than we think. I read an article last week by Ruth Ann Nordin, who said someone had stolen one of her backlisted books. I mean cover, name, the description and a new ASIN number, was selling it on Amazon! ASIN numbers are unique. Authors need to check their backlists periodically.

I buy quite a few books via Amazon for my kindle--not self-help books. I keep my eye open for hinky doings.

I haven't a clue how to stop scammers and plagiarism. They're pond scum.

It's not just e-books. I read a book published by Outskirts that a friend (who I know belongs to a critique group) wrote and I expected so much more. The grammar and punctuation were atrocious and there was absolutely no story line. I think these books will be weeded out eventually though (hopefully).Ann

You know, it's really tricky. Google will sometimes block or remove sites that it suspects are spammers/scrapers. Many times they get it right...but frequently they get it wrong and it's just a blogger with a lot of outbound links, etc. So...I think maybe an automatic way to block suspected spam books, but an email addy that connects to a real person that you could argue your case to (if you *weren't* a spammer.)

Do you join them or expose them? There are so many cheaters in the world you get disheartened. Why bother with creativity and professional standards? We should expose them, to Kindle or Smashwords etc.

I believe readers will expose the spammers/scammers eventually through reviews, etc. (Or I hope they do) The first time I heard about the spammer issue and stolen material, it made me want to stay away from the 99 cent book market.

Scammers can just copy 'simple' multi-selling books .. people will buy because they can't spell and scammers will have 'copies' out there for purchase by Hellen/Helene/Heleen instead of Helen for instance ..

Angel Sometimes by Helen Ginger

Angel Sometimes

Helen Ginger

Helen is the author of five books: three non-fiction, a short story anthology and a contemporary fiction, Angel Sometimes. She maintains an informational and interactive blog for writers and a weekly e-newsletter that has been going out to subscribers around the globe for thirteen years. She is an owner-partner and Women’s Marketing Director for Legends In Our Own Minds®, which specializes in creative networking opportunities for companies and groups.